In the warm, early fall of 2011 I set out to walk around the shoreline of Prudence Island, Rhode Island. During these walks I had the opportunity to discover new territory in a familiar place. As I walked around the island I gathered mostly trash and abandoned objects. I photographed the objects and then paired them in digital collages. This process brought a series of questions to mind. What is a thing? Can I see things as more than mere objects? Can a thing be an island? Is an island ever truly isolated?
Once I considered the things I collected as more then just trash I started to think of the former history of each artifact, how they may have been used. Studying the unique physical properties of each piece I could recognize if it was a fragment of something, or imagine what pieces make it up.
On further examination I made the distinction that an object is only part of what a thing is. A thing is not only an object but an idea or concept. And what gives a thing its significance is our ability to acknowledge and consider its existence.
Each object in this book has a corresponding number as well as a description that hints to its’ prior life. These things give clues to what life is like on and around the island, as well as a sense of intrinsic beauty and poetry that is found in unexpected places.
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